Leave Only To Return
by ThinWhiteDuchessOfDeath
Summary: Nine years after the events of Silent Hill 2, Laura begins to question what really happened in Silent Hill and why James is the way he is now. This story takes place nine years after the Leave ending of Silent Hill 2 and is rated M for violence, horror, and sexual themes. Eventual James/Laura.


The sun is a hour away from setting, the horizon a pale orange glow. Laura hesitates in front of the small blue house, her mind wandering. She really didn't want to go inside, not when she knew what awaited her. The one person she couldn't seem to avoid. The blonde girl fidgets with her backpack nervously, trying to think of a way out of her current situation. She could always spend the night at Emily's, but that was pushing it. Emily was a stuck up bitch who only befriended Laura so that she'd look good.

Besides her, Laura didn't have too many friends. She had a few close ones back when they lived at the old house, but that all changed when James got wasted one night and decided to torch the place. Now they lived in Brahms, a town much closer to Silent Hill. She hated it here. The people were so fake. All the identical town houses and tidy lawns made her sick. Laura rests her hand on the door, slowly tracing her finger on the doorknob.

After a few more minutes of hesitation, Laura pulls open the door and steps inside, the strong smell of alcohol greeting her. "I'm home!", she calls out, taking off her shoes, not expecting an answer. A soft grumble comes from the living room in reply. Laura walks over to James, placing a timid hand on his armchair. "Are you alright? You really need to stop drinking", Laura says, knowing that her concern will go ignored, as usual. James looks up at her, running a tired hand through his hair.

"I- I know...it's just...", James says, his speech slightly slurred, "I don't know, I guess I just don't care".

Laura's eyes widen in surprise. She really wasn't expecting him to say anything, especially not that. "What? How can you say that?"

James chuckles a bit, the overall effect humorless and disturbing. "Well, I just did, didn't I? Wasn't very hard".

Laura frowns and crosses her arms. "You know what I mean...what happened, James? We were doing just fine for the first five years, then-"

James stands up, his height towering over Laura. "I'm sorry, I don't think I can answer that. Things- things just don't make sense any more". Laura shivers a bit. James is so close she can smell his stale breath and feel the heat radiating off of him. "Are you cold?", James looks confused, his brows furrowed, "the AC isn't on..."

Laura takes a small step back, trying not to look uncomfortable. "No, it's uh...it's nothing". Laura tries to walk away, but is stopped when James places a warm hand on her shoulder.

"What's bothering you?"

Laura's face flushes slightly and she's not sure why. "...I'm fine, just- just hungry".

They stand there for about ten seconds, the air tense. James squeezes her shoulder a bit, and sits back down. "Okay then. I think there's leftover pizza".

Laura can't help but smile when she makes her way to the kitchen, her thoughts turning to Eddie, remembering their conversation in the abandoned bowling alley nine years ago. Whatever happened to him anyways?, she thinks while pulling open the fridge. Sure enough, there's pizza. A whole lot too. James never really ate that much. Laura reaches in and pulls it out, staring at the scarce food in the fridge before slamming the door shut. The sound of glass breaking suddenly fills the room and Laura quickly opens the fridge again, looking for the source, only to find the same thing she saw before.

_Huh...but what?-_

Laura's heart stops, her pulse slowly quickening when she leaves the kitchen. "J- James?" She looks over at the armchair to find James unconscious on the floor. The glass shard remains of the whiskey bottle he had been drinking from laid scattered about him. Laura quickly kneels down and checks his pulse, letting out a sigh in relief when she feels it.

_ He didn't seem drunk... he must have passed out from exhaustion._

She stands up and smirks when an idea presents itself to her. James rarely slept and when he did he was always a very light sleeper. This made it hard for Laura to sneak out or look through James' stuff. Now that she thought about it, Laura never even tried to look through his stuff ever since they moved here. She had at the old house, but James had caught her before she had even lifted the lid off of a box. Laura had been eleven then, but the memory was still fresh in her mind.

She remembers James being absolutely livid, his eyes igniting with fury like out of control wild fires. He had grabbed her wrist so tightly she thought it may snap. "What are you doing?" he had said, his voice simultaneously dark and devoid of emotion. Laura started to cry in response, her body trembling with fear. James' eyes widened with concern before letting her go. "Just don't do it again", he said before leading Laura out of his room and then slamming the door shut.

He had kept his door locked ever since then, but when they moved here he stopped. Laura wasn't sure why. Maybe he had forgotten? Or maybe now he finally trusted her? If that was the case, she wasn't too sure that she should go through with this. Keeping his trust could be beneficial and if she broke it... who knows how he'd react this time.

Laura weighed her options before curiosity got the better of her and she headed towards James' bedroom. She knew she would probably regret this, but she felt like she'd uncover some truths if she did. James had never told her what he had experienced in Silent Hill. Laura had assumed he had experienced it just as she had until her first attempt to look through his belongings. He had reacted so violently that she just knew there had to be something he was hiding from her.

Maybe that something would help her understand him better. With that in mind, she enters James' room and locks the door behind her.


End file.
